DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE. DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE. IN CONGRESS, (The unanimous Declaration of the thirteen United States of America.) it When in the Course of human events, becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another and to assume among the Powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and Nature's to the a them, decent respect God entitle opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation. all men to not We hold these truths to be self-evident, that are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and That to secure these the pursuit of Happiness. rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of Form of That whenever any the governed, Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or Government, abolish it, and to institute new laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should be changed for light and transient causes; and that experience hath shown, accordingly all while to suffer, mankind are more disposed than to right themselves evils are sufferable. are to which they by abolishing the forms But when a long train of abuses accustomed. and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, provide new Guards for their future security.-Such has been the patient sufferance of these Colonies; and such is now the necessity which constrains them to alter their former Systems The history of the present of Government. King of Great Britain is a history of repeated injuries and usurpations, all having in direct object the establishment of an absolute TyranTo prove this, let Facts ny over these States. and to be submitted to a candid world. He has refused to pass other Laws for the He has called together legislative bodies at places unusual, uncomfortable, and distant from the depository of their Public Records, for the sole purpose of fatiguing them into compliance with his measures. He has dissolved Representative Houses repeatedly, for opposing with manly firmness his invasions on the rights of the people. He has refused for a long time, after such to be elected; others cause to dissolutions, whereby the Legislative Powers, incapable of Annihilation, have returned to the People at large for their exercise; the State remaining these in the meantime exposed to all the dangers of He has obstructed the Administration of Justice, by refusing his Assent to Laws for establishing Judiciary Powers. He has made Judges dependent on his Will alone, for the tenure of their offices, and the amount and payment of their salaries. He has erected a multitude of New Offices, and sent hither swarms of Officers to harass our People, and eat out their substance. He has kept among us, in times of peace, Standing Armies without the Consent of our legislature. He has affected to render the Military independent of and superior to the Civil Power. He has combined with others to subject us to a jurisdiction foreign to our constitution, and unacknowledged by our laws; giving his Assent to their Acts of pretended Legislation: For quartering large bodies of armed troops among us: For protecting them, by a mock Trial, from Punishment for any Murders which they should commit on the Inhabitants of these States: For cutting off our Trade with all parts of the world: us without our Con For imposing taxes on sent: For depriving us in many cases, of the benefits of Trial by Jury: For transporting us beyond Seas to be tried for pretended offenses: For abolishing the free System of English establishing Laws in a neighboring Province, as to render it at once an therein an Arbitrary government, and enlarging its Boundaries so example and fit instrument for introducing the same absolute rule into these Colonies: For taking away our Charters, abolishing our most valuable Laws, and altering fundamentally the Forms of our Governments: our Own Legislatures, and For suspending declaring themselves invested with Power to legislate for us in all cases whatsoever. He has abdicated Government here, by deout of his Protection and waging claring us War against us. ravaged our our seas, He has plundered burnt and destroyed the Our towns, Coasts, lives of our people. He is at this time transporting large armies of foreign mercenaries to compleat the works of death, desolation and tyranny, already begun with circumstances of Cruelty & perfidy scarcely ages and barbarous the most paralleled in totally unworthy the Head of a civilized nation. He has constrained our fellow Citizens taken to become the executioners of Captive on the high Seas to bear Arms against their Country, their friends and Brethren, or to fall themselves by their Hands. He has excited domestic insurrections amongst us, and has endeavored to bring on the inhabitants of our frontiers, the merciless Indian Savages, whose known rule of warfare, is an Separation, and hold them, as we hold the rest undistinguished destruction of all ages, sexes and conditions. an In every stage of these Oppressions We have Petitioned for Redress in the most humble terms: Our repeated Petitions have been swered only by repeated injury. A Prince, whose character is thus marked by every act which may define a Tyrant, is unfit to be the ruler of a free People. Nor have We been wanting in attention to our British brethren. We have warned them from time to time of attempts by their legislature to extend an unwarrantable jurisdiction over us. We have reminded them of the cir cumstances of our emigration and settlement here. We have appealed to their native justice and magnanimity, and we have conjured them by the ties of our common kindred to disavow these usurpations, which, would inevitably interrupt our connections and correspondence. They too have been deaf to the voice of justice and of consanguinity. We must, therefore, acquiesce in the necessity, which denounces our of mankind, Enemies in War, in Peace Friends. We, therefore, the Representatives of the united States of America, in General Congress Assembled, appealing to the Supreme Judge of the world for the rectitude of our intentions, do, in the Name, and by Authority of the good People of these Colonies, solemnly publish and declare, That these United Colonies are, and of right ought to be Free and Independent States; that they are Absolved from all Allegiance to the British Crown, and that all political connection between them and the State of Great Britain, is and ought to be totally dissolved; and that as Free and Independent States, they have full Power to levy War, conclude Peace, contract Alliances, establish Commerce, and to do all other Acts and Things which Independent States may of right do. And for the support of this Declaration, with a firm reliance on the Protection of Divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes and our sacred Honor. JOHN HANCOCK, ANALYTICAL INDEX TO THE CONSTITUTION OF THE Art. Sec. C. CITIZENS OF THE UNITED Rights of, to vote, not to be COIN, a Tender in payment of COMMERCE, Congress to Regulate, equal and Uniform, to be COMMISSIONS to be granted by COMMON LAW Recognized and COMPENSATION, Private Property CONFEDERATION, no State shall CONGRESS OF THE UNITED 8 1 8 4 1 7 1 May Provide for Filling Vacancy 1 7 2 May Invest the Appointment of 254 Of Persons who Engaged in Re- DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA, Con- and to be Uniform, DUTIES to be laid by Congress, Shall not be Laid on Exports, the DUTY OF TONNAGE, without the To Exercise Exclusive Legisla- Το Pass Laws Necessary Carry the Enumerated Powers To Dispose of, and make Rules The President may, in Certain either House of, Adjourn May Enforce Prohibition of Slav- Persons Engaged in Insurrection or Rebellion Disqualified for Senators or Representatives in May, by a Two-Thirds Vote, Re- Shall Have Power, by Appropri- Shall Have Concurrent Powers. Representation in, how Appor- may be Proposed and Ratified, Rendered Operative by the Rati- |